Banana Overnight Oats (vegan)

Banana overnight oats are a cheap, fast and filling breakfast. This fresh banana oatmeal recipe, made with almond milk and plant-based yogurt is vegan and dairy-free.

These banana overnight oats use our vegan basic overnight oats recipe as the base!

🧄 Very useful ingredient notes

• Banana - fresh bananas are a sweet and delicious topping or mix-in for overnight oats. Use a ripe but firm banana.
• Old-fashioned rolled oats - do not use quick oats for this recipe, they turn out mushy. Don't use steel cut, they don't get soft enough to enjoy with this method. You want old-fashioned rolled oatmeal for this method of cooking oats.
• Almond milk - any vegan milk you enjoy should work here, like almond milk (pictured), soy milk, oat milk, coconut milk, cashew milk and rice milk. You can use unsweetened or sweetened original varieties, if you like. Vanilla milk works great, too. If using a sweetened milk, you may want to reduce or omit the added sweetener.
• Maple syrup - adds a slight maple flavor, along with unrefined sweetness. Adjust the amount of maple syrup up or down, based on your preferred sweetness.
• Ground flax - Flaxseed also thickens the oatmeal slightly.
• Plant-based yogurt - amps up the creaminess and thickness. I used Forager unsweetened vanilla cashew yogurt here. Vegan yogurts made from cashew, soy, coconut, almond and oat will all work here. If using a sweetened yogurt, you may want to cut back on the added maple syrup.

📋 Substitutions and variations

Here are some suitable substitution options for the ingredients:

• Banana - you can use frozen banana instead of fresh, but fresh is much nicer (if using frozen, add them the night before, so they can thaw overnight).
• Almond milk - Use any plant-based milk you enjoy. Vanilla-flavored milk works especially well in this recipe.
• Maple syrup - use another sweetener like sugar, brown sugar, date syrup, agave nectar or coconut sugar instead. Or, omit the added sweetener altogether.
• Flax - use chia seeds instead of ground flaxseed. Or, omit them (it will be less thick if you omit one of these options).
• Nut-free - make this nut-free by using a nut-free plant milk, such as soy milk, rice milk or oat milk.
• WFPBNO - make this whole food plant based no oil by using plant-based milk and yogurt with no added oil or refined sugar.

Here are some variation ideas for these banana overnight oats:

• Blueberry Banana - add blueberries with the banana
• Bananas and Cream - top with extra vanilla yogurt for your cream layer
• Banana Cinnamon - add ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

🔪 Instructions

Step by step instructions for how to make banana overnight oats.

🥡 Make ahead and storage tips

Overnight oats are perfect for meal prep and batch cooking. Make them Sunday night to have breakfast ready to go all week long. Store overnight oats in the refrigerator, combined, for up to 5 days.

For best texture and flavor, mix your banana in the day of or eat them within 3 days. If you add your banana on top the day you eat them, the plain oats are good for 5 days.

I wouldn't freeze these.

📖 Recipe